The sales volume in the first quarter of 2010 was roughly the same as the fourth quarter of 2009, which isn’t a bad thing, according to Ben Thypin, senior market analyst at Real Capital. In that quarter, the apartment sector saw the greatest spike in transactions among the commercial property types.

“The fourth quarter of 2009 was big because it was the fourth quarter,” he says. “There is always more activity then because firms want to get in deals before the year ends.”

....But some of the hard-hit markets had product moving, too. RCA reported that distressed properties constituted 29 percent of properties sold in the first quarter, which was about twice the distressed sales in other property types. Phoenix, Atlanta, and Tampa, Fla., were among the 10 most active markets, though Las Vegas saw no major sales. ARA’s Phoenix office, for instance, saw its volume rise more than 280 percent in the quarter.

And for sales outside of those markets? Thypin said the drive was still to quality. “The second tier of the market—the Class B property segment—still has a ways to go before the apartment market really recovers,” Thypin says. “People need to start buying those properties if we’re going to see increases in pricing and volume overall.”

Ben Carlos Thypin

I am currently the co-founder of Quantierra, the world's first data driven real estate brokerage and investment manager. In my former life as Director of Market Analysis at Real Capital Analytics, I worked with press outlets large and small to provide them with great data and insightful commentary. Here are some of the results of this collaboration. For the rest, please check out the News Archive.